The Hollywood movie packaging slot machine is nothing if not capricious. After numerous spins turned out various combinations of Christian Bale, Beyonce, Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio, Will Smith, Johnny Depp and Clint Eastwood (directing) it has decided to pay out on a fourth version of A Star Is Born with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga.

A Film Is Remade is nobody's idea of an exciting or original project but Cooper's first film behind the camera delivers an unexpected weight. A Star Is Born is a tired old vehicle that ought to offer no signs of life but because it doesn't feel second-guessed or focused grouped it is going to be received as something new and fresh: a film that they don't make them like any more. It's breaking the mould, by redoing something tried and tested.

Cooper is the drunken old country singer who chances across a talented singer (Gaga) in a drag bar, makes her his protege and his lover and sees her rocket to stardom. But like the Swiss couple on the barometers, they can't both be out of the chalet together and as she rises he fades. Gaga is impressive, particularly in the early scene where she goes on stage, a big arena stage, for the first time. She communicates the scary sense of stepping over the line into fantasy. She doesn't look like a movie star and the film tries to turn that to its advantage by repeatedly addressing her body image issues and, in particular, her nose.

Cooper is unexpectedly splendid as a grizzled old country rocker. We can dispute if Gaga is more Garland or Streisand, but Cooper is definitely channelling his inner Kris Kristofferson. He even manages to hold his own in the growl-off with Sam Elliot, who plays his manager and brother. Sometimes you can actually make out what they are saying to each other.

The camerawork is exceptional. Rarely static, it usually keeps close in on the faces. It focuses us on their experiences but occasionally, and strikingly, it will spin round to show the enormity of the circus at work around them. Its restless energy replicates the euphoria of being suddenly exposed to love and fame and success and the way they will turn lives upside down.

It is an odd contradiction. It has a seriousness to it, a weight, it's almost like a 70s film; but it is still a trite, clichéd melodrama. These are two characters without a touch of cynicism about the music industry, who accept the validation of fame at face value. In an acceptance speech, Gaga's character spouts all the usual award ceremony nonsense, and does so from the heart. Fundamentally it's mush, but in the present movie climate, it looks like a film for grown-ups.